ROTP Student Loan Eligibility

[cookiemonster]

Hi all,
I'm currently attending a Civi-U and was wondering if I'd be allowed to get student loans. The SEM guide only mentions Scholarships/Bursaries and says nothing about loans. I don't seem to be able to find any concrete answers anywhere. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[MJP]

Hi all,
I'm currently attending a Civi-U and was wondering if I'd be allowed to get student loans. The SEM guide only mentions Scholarships/Bursaries and says nothing about loans. I don't seem to be able to find any concrete answers anywhere. Does anyone have any experience with this?

It doesn't say anything about student loans because the CAF covers all tuition, books and mandatory fees. There is no need for anyone to get a student loan for school expenses.

 

[Lumber]

Hi all,
I'm currently attending a Civi-U and was wondering if I'd be allowed to get student loans. The SEM guide only mentions Scholarships/Bursaries and says nothing about loans. I don't seem to be able to find any concrete answers anywhere. Does anyone have any experience with this?

You absolutely CAN get a student loan. Banks don't care who is paying for your school, they just care that you are in fact in school. I got a student loan during my last 6 months at RMC. I even asked the loan officer if she was sure I was eligible considering I only had 5 months left, so clearly I probably had already paid all my tuition, but she said that that didn't matter; as long as I was currently a university student, I was eligible for a student loan.

Aaaaaand that's how I left RMC $35,000 in debt despite free tuition and a salary lol.

 

[MJP]

You absolutely CAN get a student loan. Banks don't care who is paying for your school, they just care that you are in fact in school. I got a student loan during my last 6 months at RMC. I even asked the loan officer if she was sure I was eligible considering I only had 5 months left, so clearly I probably had already paid all my tuition, but she said that that didn't matter; as long as I was currently a university student, I was eligible for a student loan.

Aaaaaand that's how I left RMC $35,000 in debt despite free tuition and a salary lol.

Yea fair enough, as long as the member is isn't doing anything out of line it makes sense. My knee jerk response above was almost involuntary, as I had a pretty large BTL at one time, had more than a few folks tried to game the system or get money from from some source for tuition or other fees and then try and get the CAF to also pay for it. My team dealt with the same schools all the time so it was usually pretty obvious when someone starts sending in weird forms or claims that don't match what other students are sending

 

[firewall]

It doesn't say anything about student loans because the CAF covers all tuition, books and mandatory fees. There is no need for anyone to get a student loan for school expenses.

It could be extremely useful to a student at CivU ROTP because you are expected to pay the tuition out of pocket, then you are reimbursed afterwards.

That's ~$3k the student needs to have sitting around at the start of fall semester, could definitely see getting a student loan to cover that initial payment.

Furthermore, reimbursements are currently taking over one month for tuition. I'm currently sitting in debt until they reimburse me.

 

[Blackadder1916]

It could be extremely useful to a student at CivU ROTP because you are expected to pay the tuition out of pocket, then you are reimbursed afterwards.

That's ~$3k the student needs to have sitting around at the start of fall semester, could definitely see getting a student loan to cover that initial payment.

Furthermore, reimbursements are currently taking over one month for tuition. I'm currently sitting in debt until they reimburse me.

Did you not ask for an advance on the claim?

 

[firewall]

Did you not ask for an advance on the claim?

No. I just put on my CC this time.
I wasn't really stressing because I knew it'd come back in 3 weeks so it's whatever.

But,
Last semester it was too late because enrolment was Aug 23, tuition due by Aug 28, and they require 3 weeks notice for processing advance on the claim. It really screwed me there, I had to borrow money from family member.

Point is, I wish I knew I could've still gotten a student loan and covered it that way. Because, I actually did have a student loan coming approved to come in, but called to cancel it once I knew I had ROTP offer coming in, assuming they would cover my tuition payment.
Obviously in retrospect that's my fault.

But to sum up,
I think if we can still take out a student loan, in the future that really should be told to recruits on enrolment, im sure it would save a lot of headaches.

 

[Lumber]

But to sum up,
I think if we can still take out a student loan, in the future that really should be told to recruits on enrolment, im sure it would save a lot of headaches.

But why would it be on the CAF to tell you that you can still get a student loan?

You can also:
Get a credit card.
Get a mortgage.
Get a car loan.
Get a HELOC.
Get a high interest savings account.
Get an account at a credit union.
Join the legion.
Join a local sports club.
Take advantage of a "student" discount at local stores.

Why should the CAF be responsible to inform you that you can do any of those things, including a student loan?

 

[captloadie]

Yea fair enough, as long as the member is isn't doing anything out of line it makes sense. My knee jerk response above was almost involuntary, as I had a pretty large BTL at one time, had more than a few folks tried to game the system or get money from from some source for tuition or other fees and then try and get the CAF to also pay for it. My team dealt with the same schools all the time so it was usually pretty obvious when someone starts sending in weird forms or claims that don't match what other students are sending

Dentists?

 

[MJP]

Dentists?

Hahaha that was a gooder but not mine. Our were less serious but still harshly squashed and proper remedial steps taken.

 

[firewall]

But why would it be on the CAF to tell you that you can still get a student loan?

You can also:
Get a credit card.
Get a mortgage.
Get a car loan.
Get a HELOC.
Get a high interest savings account.
Get an account at a credit union.
Join the legion.
Join a local sports club.
Take advantage of a "student" discount at local stores.

Why should the CAF be responsible to inform you that you can do any of those things, including a student loan?

I never said it was on them to tell me I can get one. Just would have avoided a headache to have a line in the 62 page guide that says I can keep one if I already have it, since the recruiters on the phone didn't know. No biggie. I already had the student loan, and It's in the past now, so I'm not sure what's with the 9 other ideas.

Funny enough, my student guide says I actually do have to ask permission to join sports club.




As the original post says "The guide mentions bursaries and scholarships, but not student loans".

Not so sure why you're vehemently against adding a line to a simple document that would clearly ease that confusion. Since it doesn't seem to be an isolated issue.

Speaking that way about credit cards, and car loans is just infantizing us for asking, and frankly unrelated and unnecessary.

You're right, the CAF absolutely has no obligation to inform me about credit cards or car loans because that has absolutely no relation to my job, or the SEM guide that is referred to by the original poster.

However, seeing as officer cadets, our responsibility is our education, and our guide specifically outlines the do's and dont's of that education, I think it would be nice to mention student loans.

Don't you?

Cheers.